Book Review - Uprooted

Uprooted by Naomi Novik
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Agnieszka has grown up in her valley home with no intention of ever leaving. Just like her parents, her neighbors, and just like the villagers of the other towns in the valley.

The only ones who want to leave are the girls the Dragon has taken.

When he takes her instead of strong, brave, beautiful Kasia, Agnieszka's life is torn apart. Bit by bit she struggles to rebuild it in the solitary tower with her, the Dragon, and the reason he took her.

First off: I would recommend reading this book. It's a beautiful story with just the right amount of wrong things that happen balanced by the right things that do. However, I do have some very strong dislikes about it. To avoid spoilers I'll be vague - anyone is welcome to message me about specifics if you want a rant or two.

The first thing right off the bat I discovered was this reads very much like a classic. I don't prefer classics because they tell so much and don't show nearly enough for my taste. On the other hand, as I mentioned above, it's beautiful.

There is an attempted rape scene in here. And I hated how it was handled. In fact, for the most part I didn't like how the subject of sex itself was handled in this story.

Which brings me to my next point: Logic. There are some things in here that do not make logical sense both in the way the characters act and how things progress.

The romance is Twilight-esque. That's all I'm going to say.

How the magic system works. I love the magic system, I really do. It's fascinating. But by the end of the book I didn't have a clear enough understanding of it to fear for the characters. For all I knew at any point they could just wave their hands and mumble something and all would be grand.

Those are the things that kept me from enjoying it more. The aspects I loved, however, were the Wood and the idea behind it and how it progresses (except for a few jumps in logic); how Agnieszka makes mistakes and learns and grows from a fearful girl to a brave woman; Alosha; how the wizards interact with each other; and how everyone has their own faults and strengths and good and bad within them.

I was a bit unsatisfied with some aspects of the ending, but did quite enjoy others. All-around I would recommend this book, but I doubt I'll be picking it up to read again.

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